Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T01:34:16.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Situating the family within the capabilities framework: a collective conversion factor

The role of the household configuration in the quality of life in Mali

from Part III - Social Choice and Capabilities in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2024

Flavio Comim
Affiliation:
Universitat Ramon Llull
P. B. Anand
Affiliation:
University of Bradford
Shailaja Fennell
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

The familys economic and socio-cultural capital and how it is shared among its members influence a person’s capabilities and choices. This chapter posits that the family acts as a collective conversion factor, and presents a case study in Mali. A typology of household configurations that best expresses the diversity of family forms is built, then used to see the relation to the overall quality of life of household members, measured by goods (household assets) and opportunities (child education and women’s autonomy). The association between these configurations and children’s access to schooling, controlling for the household standard of living, is then considered, regression analysis results showing that access to education is correlated with the household standard of living, but there is also a household configuration net effect. Extended households seem better off and better suited to develop solidarity strategies that facilitate access to schooling. But the priority given to education also appears to play a role in differences between households, shown by a higher education rate of children in rural households headed by an educated man and in urban ones that are female-headed.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ballet, J., Dubois, J.-L., and Mahieu, F.-R. (2007) Responsibility for each other’s freedom: agency as the source of collective capability. Journal of Human Development, 8 (2): 185201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassand, M., and Kellerhals, J. (1975) Familles urbaines et fécondité. Geneva: Librairie de l’Université Georg.Google Scholar
Batterbury, S. (2007) Monde rural et transformations agraires au Sud: débat et défis. In Actes du Colloque International PRIPODE, 177184. Paris: CICRED.Google Scholar
Billari, F., and Wilson, C. (2001) Convergence towards diversity? Cohort dynamics in the transition to adulthood in contemporary western Europe, Working Paper 2001–039. Rostock: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonvalet, C., and Lelièvre, E. (1995) Du concept de ménage à celui d’entourage: une redéfinition de l’espace familial. Sociologie et Sociétés, 27 (2): 177–90.Google Scholar
Bonvalet, C., (eds.) (2012) De la famille à l’entourage: L’enquête biographies et entourage. Paris: INED.Google Scholar
Brighouse, H., and Swift, A. (2016) Family Values: The Ethics of Parent–Child Relationships. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. C. (1982) Theory of Fertility Decline. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Calvès, E. A., and Marcoux, R. (2007) Les processus d’individualisation ‘à l’africaine’. Sociologie et sociétés, 39 (2): 518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappero, E., Salardi, P., and Scervini, F. (2018) From resources to functioning: rethinking and measuring conversion rates. In New Frontiers of the Capability Approach, Comim, F., Fennell, S., and Anand, P. B. (eds.): 232–45. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coenen-Huther, J., Kellerhals, J., and von Allmen, M. (1994) Les réseaux de solidarités dans la famille. Lausanne: Réalités sociales.Google Scholar
Cosio, M., Marcoux, R., Pilon, M., and Quesnel, A. (eds.) (2003) Éducation, famille et dynamiques démographiques. Paris: CICRED.Google Scholar
Dubois, J.-L., and Rousseau, S. (2001) Reinforcing household’s capabilities as a way to reduce vulnerability and prevent poverty in equitable terms. Paper presented at the conference ‘Justice and poverty: examining Sen’s capability approach’, University of Cambridge, 6 June.Google Scholar
ElderJr, G. H. (1995) The life course paradigm: social change and individual development. In Examining Lives in Context: Perspectives on the Ecology of Human Development, ElderJr, G. H., and Lüscher, K. (eds.): 101–36. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Hall, K. M. Q. (2017) Introducing joint capabilities: findings from a study of development in Honduras’ Garifuna ancestral villages. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 18 (1): 6074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Härkönen, J., Bernardi, F., and Boertien, D. (2017) Family dynamics and child outcomes: key findings and unresolved questions. European Journal of Population, 33 (2): 163–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, C. S. (2018) Education, capabilities and sustainable development. In New Frontiers of the Capability Approach, Comim, F., Fennell, S., and Anand, P. B. (eds.): 617–40. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
INSTAT (2016) Configuration des ménages et qualité de vie: Les avantages et désavantages des grands ménages au Mali. Bamako: Institut National de la Statistique.Google Scholar
Kobiane, J.-F. (2003) Pauvreté, structures familiales et stratégies éducatives à Ouagadougou. In Éducation, famille et dynamiques démographiques, Cosio, M., Marcoux, R., Pilon, M., and Quesnel, A. (eds.): 153–82. Paris: CICRED.Google Scholar
Kobiane, J.-F. (2006) Ménages et scolarisation des enfants au Burkina Faso: À la recherche des déterminants de la demande scolaire. Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Academia-Bruylant.Google Scholar
Lange, M.-F., and Pilon, M. (2000) La persistance des inégalités d’accès à l’instruction. In Rapport de genre et questions de population, vol. 2, Genre, population et développement, Bozon, M. (ed.): 6980. Paris: INED.Google Scholar
Laslett, P., and Wall, R. (eds.) (1972) Household and Family in Past Time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, R., Deschamps, J.-C., Elcheroth, G., Forney, Y., Gauthier, J.-A., Ghisletta, P., Kellerhals, J., Lalive d’Épinay, C., Le Goff, J.-M., de Ribaupierre, A., Sauvain-Dugerdil, C., Spini, D., Tettamanti, M., and Widmer, E. (2005) Why look at life courses in an interdisciplinary perspective? In Towards an Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Life Course, Levy, R., Ghisletta, P., Le Goff, J.-M., Spini, D., and Widmer, E. (eds.): 332. Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Locoh, T., and Mouvagha-Sow, M. (2005) Vers de nouveaux modèles familiaux en Afrique de l’Ouest? Paper presented at the 25th congress of the Union International pour l’Étude Scientifique de la Population, Tours, 20 July.Google Scholar
Marcoux, R. (1994) Le travail ou l’école: L’activité des enfants et les caractéristiques des ménages en milieu urbain au Mali. Bamako: Éditions du CERPOD.Google Scholar
Marie, A. (ed.) (1997) L’Afrique des individus: Itinéraires citadins dans l’Afrique contemporaine. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Nouhou, A. M., Cissé, S., Fané, A. D., Doumbia, A. G., and Sauvain-Dugerdil, C. (2016) Stratégies familiales et qualité de vie au Mali à travers les données du recensement. African Population Studies, 30 (2 Suppl.): http://aps.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/895.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2000) Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2011) Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pilon, M., and Vimard, P. (1998) Structures et dynamiques familiales à l’épreuve de la crise en Afrique subsaharienne. Paper presented at the Chaire Quetelet ‘Ménages et familles face à la crise’, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, 27 November.Google Scholar
Robeyns, I. (2005) The capability approach: a theoretical survey. Journal of Human Development, 6 (1): 93114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robeyns, I. (2016) Capabilitarianism. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 17 (3): 397414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauvain-Dugerdil, C. (2018) Une vie florissante sans enfant? Infécondité et qualité de vie en Suisse, Working Paper 2018/72. Lausanne: Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES.Google Scholar
Sauvain-Dugerdil, C., Nouhou, A. M., Cissé, S., Diawara, A. k., and Doumbia, A. G. (2018) Configurations familiales et situation des femmes: le cas du Mali à travers les données du recensement. In Observer, décrire et analyser les structures familiales, Cauchi-Duval, N. (ed.): 524. Paris: AIDELF.Google Scholar
Sauvain-Dugerdil, C., and Thiriat, M. P. (2009) Développer le genre en démographie: De la naissance à l’âge adulte. Paris: CEPED.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. (1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. (2006) Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. (2017) Collective Choice and Social Welfare, expanded edn. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Stern, Y. (2002) What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8 (3): 448–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toulmin, C. (1992) Cattle, Women and Wells: Managing Household Survival in the Sahel. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Vos, F. R., and Ballet, J. (2018) Final education, well-being and aspirations: a capability-based analysis on high school pupils in France. In New Frontiers of the Capability Approach, Comim, F., Fennell, S., and Anand, P. B. (eds.): 549–70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Walker, M., and Unterhalter, E. (2007) The capability approach: its potential for work in education. In Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education, Walker, M., and Unterhalter, E. (eds.): 118. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wall, R., Robin, J., and Laslett, P. (eds.) (1983) Family Forms in Historic Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wayack Pambè, M., and Pilon, M. (2011) Sexe du chef de ménage et inégalités scolaires à Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Autrepart, 59 (3): 125–44.Google Scholar
Widmer, E. (2010) Family Configurations: A Structural Approach to Family Diversity. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
Widmer, E., and Spini, D. (2017) Misleading norms and vulnerability in the life course: definition and illustration. Research in Human Development, 14 (1): 5267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×